mother understood how blessed she was to have sons like hers as well as a sister who’d raised them when she decided to send them halfway across the world in their teens while she stayed back in Russia.
Maybe held up a deep blue jar. “Smells like the ocean. Many of my clients like it. Want to try?”
His frown made her snicker.
“I have unscented product too. Let’s use that.” She liked to use her fingertips to massage in the pre-shave oil. It enabled her to be more precise. And she liked to touch Alexsei when he was relaxed and at her mercy. He was always on. Always ready to spring to protect, handle or direct someone.
But in her chair, she got to pamper him a little.
Once she’d gotten the hot towel on, she left him for a moment as she sucked down some coffee.
“I’ll stick around until close tonight. That way you can get your mom settled in and not worry,” she told him.
“Too long for you to be here. I’ll come back just before ten. She’ll most likely be sleeping anyway,” he said once she’d taken the towel away. It wasn’t as if he was at Whiskey Sharp every moment of every business day anyway, but she knew he liked to know what was happening and if he was out with his mother, he’d be thinking about it.
But he had other employees, including their shop manager, who handled both the barbershop and the bar when it came to opening and closing and that sort of stuff.
And really, it wasn’t as if anyone could make the man do something he already had his mind set against.
“If you’re sure. Otherwise, call me and I’ll handle it. I’m having dinner down here anyway.”
He was tense under her hands once she’d gotten him lathered up.
“Hot date?” Vic asked.
She shrugged. “I hope so. It’s the third date. That’s a big one.”
Vic laughed.
“Why are you laughing? What is a big one?” Alexsei demanded.
“Dude, stop moving. Relax for heaven’s sake.” She held the razor’s edge away from his skin until he settled again.
“It’s a sex thing,” Vic told him.
“Not really.” She sniffed. Annoyed, though she knew he hadn’t meant it to be offensive. She hated the idea that women held on to their pink parts to get something from men. Like she needed to wait until three dates? If she wanted to fuck, she’d fuck. And it didn’t matter if it was the first date or the fifteenth. It was about her connection and trust level with that other person.
She went on, “To be more specific, it’s a schedule of consideration. By the third date I’m thinking about whether a guy is double-digit date material.”
Though he held very still as she worked on his throat, he still growled. “And if he is? What then?”
“That’s just another level of commitment. Like is he a dude I date while dating other people too? Is he a long-term guy I date and have sex with but I can’t really see myself married or serious? Or, will he be that person I finally see forever with?”
“Women have a very serious checklist,” Vic said.
“I’m old enough to know what I want and not be ashamed of it,” she said. “But relationships only work if both parties are on the same page after a certain point.”
* * *
ALEXSEI HOPED SHE wasn’t done yet because there’s no way he could have stood without the entire shop knowing she turned him on.
Her fingers massaging oil and then shaving cream into his skin, the way she bent close as she scraped the straight razor over his beard. He could smell her skin. And her hair. Currently fire-engine red, it also smelled like apples.
He’d been staring at her pulse point just below her ear. Her heart beat so fast he could see her skin jump. And that’s when it hit him that it was time to stop messing around and ask her out.
More accurately, he’d been craving her more and more each day until the point where it was impossible for him to ignore. He’d woken up that morning in a bed in a house that didn’t belong to him. House-sitting had kept a roof over his head since he’d moved out of the place he and Rada had shared. And he’d been able to save up a decent amount for a down payment on a place of his own. Once he decided to look, at any rate.
But he’d woken up thinking of her. After he’d gone to bed thinking of her, wondering where she’d been and what she’d been up to. He’d lain there, sleep slowly leaving him, but the sense of needing her hadn’t.
Plain and simple, he’d come to a place where if he didn’t pursue her, he’d be lying to them both.
Then she’d brought up that date she had later. A year ago he’d have had a pang of jealousy. Wondering what if he’d ever given in to his attraction to the strange woman who worked in his shop.
A year ago he’d still been trying to make his relationship with Rada work though they’d both given up by that point and were just going through the motions.
Now that he’d settled in to life after that engagement had finally been broken in public—they’d broken up privately three months before that—there was a lot more than a pang.
He hated the idea of Maybe being with anyone else. Hated the thought of this date she was going to being the one she decided to give this other man a chance to be with her.
Hated, too, that if she ended up with someone right then, it would have been his own damned fault for not just making his move months before.
But he’d been antsy. Needed to roam a little. To turn over in his head whether or not he wanted to be serious with anyone at all, despite his craving for Maybe.
And for a while, he’d led with his dick and had enjoyed himself that way.
But he always turned his attention back to her. Over and over and finally he’d realized he was done fucking around and needed to pay attention to his feelings about her to see if they were worth investigating further.
Not his type, or what he’d always thought was his type until he’d met her. Perhaps it was more a measure of that, the fact that no one was like her. Maybe never shut up. At first he’d been stunned by it, but over time, he tended to have better days when she was working than when she was off. Whiskey Sharp was too quiet without his little bird flitting around, chirping and chattering.
She was the heart of the shop. Like an annoying little sister who managed to keep them all in line.
Except for him. He had absolutely no brotherly feelings about her whatsoever.
First things first, he had to deal with this visit from his mother and the resulting fallout among his family. Then he’d turn his energy and focus to seeing if he could nudge Maybe into a date or two. See if he could get himself into double-digit territory.
His mother was arriving from New York in just a few hours. She’d been in New Jersey with her new husband, who’d
